Can a religious group set itself apart and single out other groups as being parties or denominations, and not be a denomination itself?

Can Christians be united as one body without physical joining congregations?

Restoration Class Notes

Week Five

I.Stone and Campbell Unite

a.In the 1820’s, the movements began to overlap

i.Especially in Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky

ii.Several towns had congregations of both, including Georgetown, Kentucky where Stone lived and worked.

iii.Stone and Campbell first met in 1823

1.met in Stone’s home in Georgetown

2.expressed a mutual respect for each other

b.A Comparison of Stone and Campbell

i.Socially

1.Campbell was a University educated wealthy land-owner.

2.Stone had an education from a frontier academy, and from on-the-job training, and lived near poverty.

ii.Religious

1.Stone

a.His reformation looked to create lives characterized by the Spirit of Christ

b.Success was achieved when a person embodied the fruits of the Spirit – love, humility, patience, joy, etc.

c.A reliance on the Bible alone would free people from creeds and denominational teachings and allow them to embrace those virtues – then true reformation and unity would come.

d.Regarded Campbell as too rigid on doctrine, and guilty of de-emphasizing the work of the Holy Spirit

e.Believed ordained ministers were required for the ordination of a candidate for ministry

f.Communion should not be restricted to the immersed

g.Didn’t believe in the equality of Jesus with God.

h.Major proponent of revivals as evangelism tool.

i.Celebrated Lord’s Supper infrequently.

j.Communion was open to immersed and unimmersed alike.

2.Campbell

a.Thought Stone and other “Christian” groups were too lax on doctrine.

b.Held to the orthodox view of Trinity, and saw the divinity of Christ as central to Christian faith.

c.Did believe submission to Christ would result in the fruits of the Spirit, but believed returning to the doctrine and practices of the early church was how to achieve unity among Christians.

d.Vote of a congregation was sufficient to ordain a candidate for ministry

e.Communion should be restricted to the immersed only.

f.Didn’t like revivals, and preferred calm, clear, rational teaching of the New Testament.

g.Took the Lord’s Supper weekly

h.Only the immersed took Communion.

3.What did they have in common?

a.Scriptures as the only authority

b.Unity among Christians and an end to creeds, clergy, unscriptural names, and denominational bodies.

c.New Testament church was the ideal church.

4.A lot of Communication occurred between their respective papers

a.Stone’s the Christian Messenger, and Campbell’s the Christian Baptist and it’s successor the Millenial Harbinger.

b.Stone questioned Campbell’s ‘metaphysical’ doctrine of the Trinity in his paper. Campbell followers called out ‘Christian’ groups as Arians or Universalists in his paper.

c.Each wrote a series of articles directed at the other about why they took their respective names, what problems they had with the other’s teaching, and what would need to be done differently to unify.

c.Early Moves Toward Union and Difficulties.

i.As early as the 1820’s members of each group wondered why they weren’t united

ii.August 1831

1.Stone addressed unity of the groups in the Christian Messenger.

a.Said they should be united since they were already one in spirit and reluctance was coming from Campbell’s group.

b.Outlined two reasons for why they were not unified

i.Stone’s group allowed the unimmersed to take communion.

1.Did teach that people were to believe, repent, and be immersed for forgiveness of sins

2.Couldn’t make immersion as crucial to Christianity as Campbell did. (Campbell did say you could be an unimmersed Christian due to a lack of knowledge, but to be in the reform Church you needed to be immersed.)

ii.Their names.

1.Stone’s group used ‘Christian’, and Campbell’s group used ‘Disciples’, which Stone acknowledged was a good, scriptural name.

2.asserted that Campbell only used Disciples to distinguish his group from the ‘Christians’ and thus it was a party name.

3.Campbell replied that no one asked them to give up the name Christians.

2.Practical Obstacles to Unity

a.No central office

i.How do you make an announcement that you are unified?

ii.Local congregations had to decide for themselves.

b.There were unions in Millersberg, Kentucky and in Georgetwon, Kentucky in 1831. Meetings in Lexington on December 31, 1831 and January 1, 1832 were the real beginning of a large-scale union movement.

d.The Union Takes Shape

i.John T. Johnson

1.former Baptist preacher now a follower of Campbell.

2.Became friends with Stone.

a.They united the churches in Georgetown

b.Proposed conferences on unity at Georgetown and Lexington

ii.Conferences

1.included a well-known Campbell leader named Raccoon John Smith.

2.The last session of the last day ended with Smith and Stone speaking.

a.Smith spoke on God having one people, and his one book, the Bible, tells them to be one family.

i.Acknowledged differences over atonement, Trinity, etc., but stated that those had always been topics of disagreement among Christians, they weren’t part of the gospel, and no heaven had been promised to those who held one position over another.

ii.Two things kept them from uniting:

1.They needed to stop making inferences from Scripture about who to fellowship

2.They needed to love each other more.

3.concluded with “Let us then, my brethren, be no longer Campbellites or Stoneites, Ne Lights or Old Lights, or any other kind of lights. But let us come to the Bible and the Bible alone, as the only book in creation that can give us all the Light we need.”

b.Stone agreed, said he had no objection to that basis of union, and extended his hand to Smith.

c.On Sunday the Lexington congregations met together as one body.

iii.Spreading the Word

1.John Smith and John Rogers (a Stone movement guy)

a.Commissioned to travel together and tell other churches what had happened in Lexington

b.Spent three years doing so

c.Campbell wrote about it in the Millennial Harbinger and wished them Godspeed.

e.Further Roadblocks to Union

i.Both sides had to give up things

1.Worship styles

a.Stone churches were more emotionally expressive

b.Campbell churches more rational and dignified

2.Work of the Holy Spirit

3.Name of the church

ii.Smith-Jones and O’Kelly Christians were not happy.

1.didn’t regard Alexander Campbell very highly

2.Some Stone congregations agreed and stuck with the Smith-Jones and O’Kelly congregations.

3.These churches eventually merged in 1931 with the Congregational to Church to make the Congregational Christian Church and merged in 1957 with Evangelical and Reformed Churches to create the United Church of Christ.

iii.The Lexington Church

1.one month after unity service they argued over whether and ordained elder had to be present to offer Communion